I’ve been grateful to be involved with the Eyeglasses project for over a year to provide free eye care to people that haven’t accessed eye care in years. It can be easy to get hyper-focused on studying and building your career in medical school but staying involved in community work reminds me to slow down and remember the passion for helping people that drew me to medicine in the first place. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/british-columbia/article-the-eyeglasses-project-offers-free-eye-care-in-vancouvers-downtown/
Author: shannacyeung
Strategy for Better work-life balance and time management: Calendar Blocking
I’ve been working towards better work-life balance, in particular allocating time for making progress on multiple projects and making time for different realms of my life. My friend Amy is an inspiration to me in regards to being highly organized and making time for personal hobbies, , fitness, her relationship and more. She taught me the Calendar Blocking technique which was immensely helpful for preventing studying/medical school work from taking over my entire life – which definitely happened multiple times during my first year of medical school. I asked her to write a Calendar Blocking guest post because this technique Read More
How to get into UBC
Get good grades. Other people may tell you that extracurriculars are more important than good grades but I believe that good grades are the most important. You’re trying into get into an institution of higher education so you should demonstrate with good grades that you will be capable of handling the huge amount of learning that you’ll do at university. Great grades can also indicate a solid work ethic when it comes to schoolwork and that you actually give a damn about school. Take a leadership role in at least 3 extracurriculars. You don’t have to be Team Captain or President. I Read More
How to Study for the MCAT – The Ultimate MCAT Study Guide
It’s MCAT season. Disclaimer: I got a score I was proud of but remember, This is just the way I studied for the MCAT and there are many ways you can improve it to fit your personal preferences. While preparing for the MCAT, I relied on blog posts like this to plan how to study and so this is how I will give back 🙂. Good luck everyone! Comment if you have more MCAT questions! When should I take the MCAT? I recommend late June. I took mine July 28th because I thought I wouldn’t be able to study enough in May while Read More
Surfing in Oregon
I went surfing with some medical school classmates in Seaside, Oregon. Being outdoors and active helped me rest from the constant studying and impeding burnout that comes with med school.
Scholarship & Chinese Society Gala
I was honoured to receive a scholarship from the society representing my grandfather’s hometown. I’m very close with my grandfather. He has always been a huge inspiration for me to study hard because he left his hometown at age 12 to further his studies and ultimately become the first (or at least one of the first) from his hometown to attend university and become a well-respected surgeon. My grandpa has always been supportive of my goal to become a physician and I’m grateful for his support. My grandpa’s also a cancer survivor and his initial diagnosis provided an extra push Read More
Charity eye clinic, October Life Update
Charity eye clinic project I am involved with a charity project that provides eye exams and glasses to low-income individuals in the Downtown Eastside. We held our second pop-up eye clinic in the Downtown Eastside this Tuesday and served a hundred people. It broke my heart that we had to turn~ 40 people because we ran out of time to serve everyone despite working from 8 am until 8 pm. The people we did serve reminded me of how privileged I am to have easy access to healthcare, and renewed a passion to help people who don’t have easy access Read More
Ice Hockey
I’m grateful to my high school Humanities teacher who coached our high school girls’ team and introduced me to hockey. I’m glad to have hockey in my life because it has helped me gain an extra community while I’m at the beginning of a new school program and serves as a nice stress relieving form of exercise. The weekend of September 14-16, some classmates, upper years and I played in Icebowl, a tournament in Edmonton against other med students from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. We didn’t win but it was a lot of fun. Our flight home from Edmonton got cancelled Read More
My First Week of Med School
Monday August 20th 2018 was our first day of Med School. I think the first three pictures captured how happy and excited I felt to starting my first day of medical school. Our first week included lots of lectures, our first cadaver dissection, a histology lab, lunch with our Second Year Buddies, and trying to remember as many names as possible. I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone as much as I could and make new friends in the week so I went to almost every event. I didn’t take too many pictures because I was Read More
Guangzhou Part 1: Beautiful Views
I went to China this summer where I spent my time primarily in Guangzhou. I had so much fun in Guangzhou, am grateful for my kind loving host family and ate a TON of great food. I felt so lucky to wake up every day to this view. You can guess from lush green vegetation that Guangzhou has a warm humid climate. This picture was taken of part of the walk away along the Pearl River where many citizens enjoy taking an evening stroll or bike along. I think many people have a misconception that China is still undeveloped and Read More